A Mahora Halloween
by Master Masa Random
Summary: OneShot Master Masa Random presents A typical Halloween night in Mahora, a little gift to any who reads. Happy Halloween.


_The characters and situations of Magister Negi Magi are the creation of and rightful property of Ken Akamatsu. They are used here without permission. This story may be freely redistributed, but it should not be altered substantially or used for profit in any way._

**A Very Mahora Halloween**

A floorboard creeked as the young girl quietly stumbled forward through the hall, the only lightsource came in the small bloodstained lighter that was held in her quivering hand. Another step, then another. The creaking seemed endless, it came from nowhere, yet everywhere, it was everything and anything within this cramped corridor.

_Scritch, scritch._

She stopped, a weak cry escaped from between her bloodless lips. Biting her tongue, she could feel the acrid bile rise up her throat, and she fought to keep it down. As quietly as she could, holding her breath and trying to make sudden movements, she turned on her heel and...

"AAAAIIIIII!!!!!"

Makie keeled over, whimpering. Ako and Negi, nearly holding each other, stared at the television screen with faces as pale as the blankets massed overtop them. The ponytailed basketball girl and the swimmer exchanged glances, and simultaneously began to gorge themselves on popcorn while refusing to stare at the screen.

_'Twas a Halloween Night, and all through the dorms,_

_Every girl was screaming, not out of the norm,_

_Even the teachers who lay in their beds,_

_Couldn't get the sobbing out of their heads,_

_And as for the Deam, the old man up the stairs._

_Slept soundly as a baby, without care._

_There was Negi, the Boya, all dressed in blue_

_As white as a ghost, with a terrified hue,_

_And four young girls, craving for some nummies,_

_Wished now to cry out for their dear mummies,_

_A zombie on the screen, with hunger for gore,_

_Did not agree to these girls, scared to the core._

Shivering, Makie sat back upright and peered out from between her fingertips, "Did the lady die...?" her voice, shaking almost as badly as she was, sounded quite clear compared the gurgling sound coming out o the surround-sound speakers hidden cleverly throughout the room.

Although nearly everyone felt too frightened to look at the television, Yuna managed to voice out, "Sort of..."

Then the television, now showing a large black stain on te creme-colored walls, blanked out and turned off. Akira, flipping the remote in her hand with her thin eyebrows raised, looked at everyone in the room and smiled as though her fears turned off with the screen, "Who wants to go trick-or-treating? It's almost eleven."

And so the sunshine appeared as the lights were flipped on, Yuna jumping towards the bathroom with a raised, "Yeah!"

The bespectacled child-teacher smiled warmly, "It's nice to see that Japan celebrates some Western Holidays, too."

"Actually," Ako said with a raised finger, "We don't. In Japan we celebrate the scary stuff during the summertime."

"Yeah, Autumn is the time for schoolwork and good tasting sake!"

"Sake? But... nevermind... Then why would...?"

"We want candy, of course!"

Trying his best to ignore Yuna's loud yelling, Negi walked to the door and called out, "I'll go with Konoka and Setsuna, then, since Asuna-san is sleeping in."

"You don't want to go with us, Negi-kun?" Makie, already half undressed with a bunch of frilly, lacey, articles of clothing clutched to her chest, took a step toward the now red-faced Negi and coyly tried to avert her eyes, "Don't you want to spend some time with your favorite students?"

Stuttering incoherently, Negi fell through the doorway and landed with a loud thud on the other side, Akira, laughing weakly, shut the door behind him.

_The young Negi Springfield, not even quite ten,_

_Could not have foreseen what would have happened then,_

_That while he trudged through those lonely school halls,_

_Something follows him as his footsteps fall,_

_Not really a man, nor nearly quite a beast,_

_The thing that follows that boy prepares his feast._

_While the innocent girls prepare for their game,_

_A prowler of the night does nearly the same,_

_But while their game is of fun and jeers,_

_His is a game of terrors and fears._

_So while they all enjoy their tricks and their treats,_

_He patiently waits for the taste of warm meat._

By the time Negi was dressed and ready to go, Konoka and Setsuna waited for him outside, talking softly to themselves. He pushed the door open and smiled broadly, "You two look nice!"

Dressed like a black cat, Konoka curled her hand rubbed her cheek, "Nya~ It's cute right?" she giggled as Setsuna, a miko, blushed heavily. There was reason enough to blush, Konoka's attire seemed very exposing to the eye: although she was a black cat, a nearly-opaque white triangle stretched from her neck to her naval, and the skin-tight black material seemed to strain as she stretched her arms over her head.

Setsuna would really have no reason to blush, so undoubtedly the reason she did so was for Konoka's lack of modesty. Dressed like a classic miko, Sestuna appeared very much out of her traditional guardian attitude, nearly appearing as though she required protection herself. A fine ceremonial fan hung from a delicate-looking thread of red that looked barely tied to the white sash 'round her hips. A pretty-looking lily was placed caringly in her hair, securing her ponytail and adding to her already impressive appearance. It looked almost a shame to wear the bobble outdoors, where something could bring it harm.

"You look pretty nifty yourself Negi-kun!" crouching low to Negi's level, the black cat grabbed the young boy's cheeks and stretched them painfully while giggling. She looked very much like a cat. A cat playing with its soon-to-be-doomed mouse.

Eyes forced closed by his stretched cheeks, Negi managed to get out a mumbled "Hank yuu..." Ironically, Negi was wearing his old school uniform - a long, sweeping black robe and a wide hat that matched well with his long staff and teeny glasses. All in all, from a female's point of view he'd have been the epitamy of adorable thrown on top of a sugarbowl sitting in a cushion of icecream sprinkles that covered - obviously - a large triple-scooped sloppy mess of icecream.

"Ojou-sama, if we leave now we'll be able to meet with everyone at the park."

Purring idiotically, Konoka nodded and myew'd every now and then as a rapidly darkening Setsuna led the way.

--

"Okay everyone!", Asakura, dressed like a 50's male reporter with the gray coat and the cap full of notes, stood up on a small pedastal she had someone drag in, "Listen here, listen here!"

Negi could barely keep his eyes on her, everyone's costumes were so distracting... since it was a girl's school, you'd think that the girls wouldn't try wearing such outrageous clothes to attract attention, but the lack of males simply seemed to indicate that there was no need for modesty.

Ayaka was wearing such a fascinating mummy costume and apparently ran out of wrap about halfway through it. Negi smiled weakly as she winked in his direction. Kaede, too, wore a ninja costume(?) that left her mostly exposed in the cool night air. Chizuka glared at Chisame, both of them apparently went for the Chiu look this year. Finally, and the most appalling, was Madam Yuna and her... companion Ako: the two were dressed in dresses of what appeared to be made out of opaque, colored, plasic wrap. They, luckily, wore what seemed to be some sort of cellophane wrap wound around their more womanly parts and walked around saying that they were giant pieces of candy.

Some people, however, wore normal costumes that could only make the young teacher smile. The Narutaki twins were dressed like mages, laughing as their play staves lit up as they swung them around. A busty Natsume laughed and ran around clutching her breasts as an old, lecherous Ku Fei waddled after her in a disturbing manner.

"All right! Here's the game! Whoever's got the most candy by midnight is crowned 'Lady,'" she quickly glanced at Negi then turned back to the larger mass of the crowd, "... or Lord of the Sweets!' and that Lord gets to be King when we play night of a thousand tales later tonight! BEGIN!"

The moment she made a fantastic leap off the stage everyone began moving. Even though it looked like only half of the participants were really even listening, the other half were forcefully grabbed and dragged alongside their new comrades, ultimately to be used as proxies in due time.

"Nihahaha~ We're not going to be able to win at this rate..." Konoka scratched her head, stifling another laugh under her breath. Setsuna raised a hand to wipe her face, then thought better of it and touched her chin.

"Ojou-sama, I fear I don't understand what Asakura-san was saying..."

Negi smiled at the slightly flustered Setsuna, "Neither do I!" he was glad to see that the swordsgirl gave him an appreciative smile before flicking her eyes back to the kitty cat.

"Oh, well its a game called "The King", and it's like truth or dare, but there's only commands, and if you're King, you give commands. The person who was commanded has to do _anything_ the King wants. Amazingly, Konoka did this all without stopping for a breath, even more amazing was that she wasn't smiling the entire time, rather she had an almost quizzical look on her face the entire time.

Soon, Negi realized why. Setsuna, hearing the rules to the game, turned an off-shade of purple, then reached over to grab the handle of her nonexistant sword, "How long have you played this game!?"

"Oh once or twice... it's really interesting after a while~! Nihahahaha..." her laughter died out as Setsuna grabbed both Negi and Konoka's wrists, running at an alarming speed towards the moving mass of fellow students.

_So the hunt was on, and all through the night,_

_The monsters were stirring, creatures of fright,_

_The King of Dust, trailing his foggy crew,_

_Madeth dark the sky, a deadly black flu,_

_Thus a Halloween Night begins again,_

_Innocent lives who never knew then._

_---_

The houses and shops were all easily categorized into two groups, "Halloweeners Welcome!" and "Stay back, or get whacked". Depending on their outdoor decorations, you could even tell who was really into the Halloween spirit. A local shop that sells books had large pumpkins placed on either side of their doors and their manager stand outside who threw candy at everyone and anything, completely inaccurate by a good meter or so. Unfortunately he didn't see the Mahora girls coming, and by the time Negi, Sestuna and Konoka got to him, he was long ransacked.

"Negi-sensei, we have to win this!"

Trying his best to not look at Setsuna's glazed eyes, Negi shrugged and laughed as spiritedly as he could, "It's only a bit of a game, Setsuna-san, surely they won't make you guys do anything rediculous!"

"But Negi...!" Konoka knelt down and patted Negi's head with a motherly hand, "Last time they made me..." she finished her sentence in a whisper, kneeling close enough to her ear tat she could have bit him.

A strange knobbly feeling began at Negi's feet, and before he could dispel the odd feeling, it already reached his stomach, nearly forcing him to his knees, "Urgh... maybe we should try to win, then..."

"That's the spirit, Negi-kun!"

"Let's start here."

Negi, doing his part walked to the most cheerful looking store while Setsuna and Konoka both visited the bookstore and try to get anything that the poor shopkeep had left. The store had two large windows and a rather wide front door, with the two eerie candles placed where they stood on the little window sill, it almost looked like Negi was walking straight into the mouth of a giant.

It was really one of Negi's first times going outside and interacting with the locals, if you believe it. Grapsing the large doorknocker firmly, Negi swung his entire body and let the knocker hit the brass circle with a content cracking sound. Immediately thereafter, the door swung upon with a delightfully eerie groan. The door's answerer however...

"Trick or treat!"

He was probably only a little older than most of Negi's students, if you calculate by height. Dark hair combed back and shiny black eyes made the young man almost appear sinister, but he lowered his chin and he had a rather pleasant smile on his face. He didn't give Negi any candy though.

"Trick or Treat... that's a good question. This is a conundrum, you see, because I did not prepare in time." the young man took out what appeared to be a small slice of lemon from his pocket and popped it in his mouth before continuing, "Instead, I have a question for you, my costumed friend."

"Oh...?"

Adjusting his glasses and morphing his smile into something demonic, the young boy leaned in close and whispered, "Guess what is buried in my basement?"

---

"So how did your end go, Negi-sensei?" Setsuna smiled almost cutely as she looked over her bounty. Turned out that the poor shopkeeper at the bookstore had a larger stash hidden in his knapsack.

"Um..." trying his harded not to shake, the young man grabbed Setsuna's hand and beckoned her to continue on.

A little while later (and a few more break-ins later, of course) Konoka was counting the candies that the three somehow amassed. Sitting in the park, Negi quietly murmered to himself while he rubbed his feet, sore from having to walk for so long while wearing wooden clops. Setsuna hummed something that sounded mystic under the scary-looking tree, whose branches appeared to be only a twitch away from sweeping her off her feet and devouring her whole.

"Yay, we have six-hundred twenty-three pieces of candy!" clapping her hands, Konoka reached in and grabbed a small sweet shaped like a witch, "Or should I say six-hundred twenty-two?"

"Ohohohohoho~"

Looking up from his foot (and nearly wetting himself) Negi swallowed his tongue by the small alliance that formed before him.

Makie, dressed as a rather dashing prince, Ayaka, the strip-tease mummy, and Akira, the rather beautiful genie, all stuck out their candy bags with looks of eagerness, haughty pride, and content on each of their respective faces. Which, honestly, they were okay to wear, since one of their bulging halloween baggies were at least three times the size of the combined efforts of Setsuna, Konoka, and Negi.

Making a squeaking noise, Negi realized that Ayaka's eyes were full of gleaming jealousy, capable to grabbing Negi by the scruff of his neck and running faster than the kitty or the miko could possibly run. Then she just made a pleasant smile to the young child, winking.

Negi cowered closer to Konoka.

"Ne~, Iinchou, are you playing that silly game?"

Ayaka stepped back, the pale tendrils wrapped around her body seemed to quiver a bit, "What do you mean?" she said, looking fairly confused.

"Nihahaa~, well Secchan here and I are playing a different game. It's the "Buy Negi-kun" game!" holding the boy by the shoulders, Konoka bent double and hugged him, rubbing her cheek against the squirming mage.

"B-B-Buy Negi-sensei!?"

"Whoever buys Negi for oh... one thousand pieces of candy, gets to walk around with Negi-sensei." Setsuna answered swiftly, trying her hardest to conceal her smile, now reduced to a twitch of her upper lip.

"Hehehe... we already bought him, which is why we don't have that much candy..."

The reason Negi couldn't mutter anything or make a warning to the rest of his class was simply due to the fact that Konoka was trying to kill him. Holding him tightly to her chest, the kitty-girl refused to give him enough air to mumble anything more than "Momoga! Momoga!!! Fi gann veeez..." - whatever that meant.

"I'll take him for two-thousand pieces!"

"Wait, what!?" Makie and Akira both turned around, horrified, no matter how cute Negi may be, they were out for candy!"

"Deal!"

Before he could blink, the trade was finished, Makie and Akira sighing deeply while Ayaka smiled so delightfully that for a second Negi thought it might have been alright for him to be traded off.

"See you back home, Negi-kuuun~!"

"Ojou-sama, this'll put us in first for sure, next we..." Setsuna voice trailed off as the other pair turned and left, abandoning Negi with nothing more than a second glance and a little wave.

"Oh...well..." Makie reached over and patted Negi's hat, "At least you're cute! But Iinchou..."

"It's okay, with Negi we should be able to make twice that amount in half the time!" Ayaka, looking like she didn't really even care anymore, smiled tenderly and held Negi within arms length, "And Negi-sensei, you can have whatever candy we get."

"What...!?"

"N-no, it's okay, Ayaka-san, my sweet tooth isn't as large as all that."

"Nonsense! All children your age like candy!"

"All children my age likes candy!!" Makie, nearly reduced to tears, walked painfully beside Ayaka opposite from Negi. Akira beside her seemed to have returned to her distant self, but still winced at every utterence of the word "candy".

After a little while, it wasn't so bad, and Negi and Ayaka got a lot of compliments like, "Oh, what a cute little brother you have!", "What an adorable deary!", "You brought your little friend this time?", "You again?", "I don't have any more candy I swear!", "P-Please don't hit me again, miss!"

Laughing like a little girl, Makie took her bowl of candy and cheerfully threw them up into the air, "Look! We most have a hundred more than before!"

"Hey, Makie, want to hear a good story?"

Akira, making herself known, looked over to the side and smiled as Yuna and Ako jumped out of the bushes, now dressed in matching doggy costumes. Sticking their tongues out and panting heavily, they could barely contain their laughter as Negi jumped from their initial appearance.

"Yay, Akira's Ghost stories are like the bestests!"

"Very good show!"

Not one to be so easily shown up, Ayaka put a fist to her chest and smiled deviously, "Then a competition!"

"Negi-sensei, you don't mind do you?"

"No, no, please, Akira-san, I'd love to hear a good ghost story!"

She smiled sweetly, looked at all the others with an omniscient eye, and began:

"On a rainy night in the summer, a young couple were walking from school, just talking idly about ghosts. At the fourway stop they seen one of the new girls that just entered this semester from a faraway town. She was sitting down on a bench, you know, one of those ones that have a big umbrella connected to it.

'Oh hello Ami. Hello Mark.'

'Hello... uh...'

'New Kid will do, that's what they all call me.' the new girl said with a cheerful laugh. She was rather pretty, with long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. She lifted his white chin and stared absently at the sky, "This rain won't let up will it?"

'No, no it doesn't.' said the young male in the couple. He walked to the new girl and sat next to her beside her on the bench, beckoning his girlfriend to sit too. She felt weird with the new girl, who refuses to talk much in class, and now suddenly is so warm.

'Did you know?' she said, sounding offhand and almost noncaring, 'That they say four-way streets are pathways to hell.'

'Oh?'

'Yes, especially this one here. A man came by only moments ago, saying a riddle-speaking demon took away half of his life.'

'I'm pretty good at riddles, aren't I, Ami?'

Trying not to have his head swell any larger, Ami put a hand on his shoulder and tried to get him to stand up, 'Pretty good, yes.'

'Are you?' her eyes locked onto his and she smiled, a long, thin smile that morphed into something more demonic, and before Ami could-"

"Booo!"

Negi - not to mention everyone else who was there listening - jumped a very admirable two feet into the air, crying out in sharp, high notes.

"That was mean, Onee-chan!" laughing like a madwoman Fumika slapped her knee and tried to wipe a tear from her eye with the corner of her big sleeve. The other Narutaki was laughing so hard no words came out of her mouth, she was barely breathing, in fact.

"Whooo... that scared me..." Makie, holding Ako and propped in front of Yuna like a human shield, sighed and began wiping her brow with the back of her hand.

It appeared that most of the girls met up with them here, as the selected meeting point for midnight, now only minutes away. Setsuna and Konoka, laughing under their breath, waved to Negi from a spot near Zazie and Chisame. Hakase and Ku Fei were both looking around, a slightly embarassed smile on their lips.

The young teacher's quivering voice made its way through the air, "That was very good, Akira-san. A perfect setting for a four-way stop." Negi smiled and nodded, still shaking slightly.

Akira, eyes wide, looked around in a confused manner,"Four-way?"

Tendrils of the fog seemed to move, coiling and writhing towards the spot where the girls stood. It all seemed to happen in a moment, and the girls made themselves into a ring, rather disturbed by nature's intent.

"Look, there!"

Not knowing whose voice called, Negi's eyes were still drawn to some spot in the fog, a shimmer of shadow and the heavy, eerie footsteps of someone just outside the field of vision.

"Ojou-sama, stand back..."

"Onee-chan... where's Kaede-nee!?"

"Quick, Makie! Ako! Akira! Stand over here!"

"Nihaha... amazing CG's..."

The chatter between the girls rose into a loud buzz, unfortunately the buzzing noise turned into something like a low roar, a roar that continued even after the girls stopped their own talk.

_Little children who play their little games,_

_Innocence now turned to horrible shame,_

_Let us see how-_

"Hiyaaa!"

"Wahhhh!!!"

Two voices suddenly broke out in a cry and the sound of a massive bashing noise made more than half the girls cry out and the other half to begin sobbing.

Fascinatingly, the only ones who did not cry or jump were the two most likely to: the Narutaki twins; whose only cries were that of recognition, "Kaede-nee!"

Dragging a limp and dark body from the rapidly decreasing mist, the ninja girl smiled triumphantly, "I found the problem de gozaru!" and threw the body down on the ground before everyone's feet.

Dressed all in black, the figure was not much older than the girls present. Face-planting the ground, nobody quite knew who it was at first, since all they could see were the dark-colored jeans and the black, hooded, sweatshirt. There appeared to be a pair of very fake dog ears on the person's head, a poor attempt at a wolfman, it seems.

"Owowowow...." a spark of realization met the attacker's eyes and he smiled weakly, waving, "Um... hi girls?"

"Kotaro!" Chizuru, from near the back, put her hands on her hips and frowned sternly, obviously sending messages of irritation to the young man on the ground, who's ears began to twitch.

"Er... it was Asakura's idea!"

"Ehehehe...ehehe...." Ayaka, taking the leadership role, smiled darkly, "I see now... you and Asakura-san planned on stealing our candy when we up and ran, eh?"

The reporter, now with her true colors exposed, began to flee but was tripped up by Setsuna, and rather fell on Negi. She was aptly heaved up and thrown on the ground with Kotaro, forced to look up with an awkward smile, mumbling only, "H-Happy Halloween!"

---

Takamichi looked up from his desk, suddenly feeling a severe danger. It was... tangible in a way, a horrible feeling that could be picked up, felt, and thrown. He looked out the window as the clock struck midnight and frowned, "Where is that coming from?"

His eyes slowly looked over his desk and stopped at an envelope marked "To Takahata, from Konoe." taking a small knife and cutting it open, he rolled his eyes and put his "Holiday Bonus" in the trashcan.

"That explains the evil."

------------------------------------------------

Happy Halloween from Master Masa Random


End file.
